Mike Oldfield - Royal Albert Hall, London, UK 12/9/74 SB

1. The Orchestral 'Hergest Ridge' I
2. The Orchestral 'Hergest Ridge' II


Wonderful complete live performance of 'Orchestral Hergest Ridge'
with Steve Hillage on guitar.

The Orchestral Hergest Ridge
Like The Orchestral Tubular Bells before it, this was arranged and conducted by David Bedford. The BBC recorded the premiere, performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Steve Hillage (a member of the Kevin Ayers band) on guitar, on December 9th 1974. This was broadcast on television in early 1975.

A performance by the Scottish National Orchestra at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on May 5th 1976 (also featuring Hillage, Andy Summers - later of The Police - took part in other performances) was recorded by Radio Clyde. Virgin purchased the rights to this recording, with the intention of releasing it.

The album was never released, possibly for several reasons. The Orchestral Tubular Bells was not a commercial success, and Mike is absent from all recordings of the Orchestral Hergest Ridge. Watching the television broadcast of the 1974 performance, Mike laughed at Steve Hillage's playing, and so he may have vetoed its release for this reason.



Trade CD --> EAC --> wav --> flac frontend --> flac level 8
Sector Boundaries Aligned
Ripped and encoded June 20th, 2005
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